Call it a civics lesson.
Harriet P. Epstein
Santa Monica, Calif.
To the Editor:
Here is one way to ease the mail-in ballot problem created by the White House. Let’s ask our elected officials and the media to call on businesses to agree to a bulk-mail moratorium beginning two weeks before Election Day. Given the daily amount of promotional offerings in my mailbox, a two-week moratorium on nonessential mail will result in faster processing of mail-in ballots.
Theresa G. Waivada
Garrison, N.Y.
To the Editor:
Re “Ransomware May Threaten Election Night” (front page, Sept. 28):
Sorry if I sound like a Luddite, but on Election Day, I want to enter a little booth with a curtain, perhaps at my local school, move a big mechanical lever to the right to close the curtain, vote and then move the lever to the left to open the curtain, fulfilling one of the most important responsibilities I as an American have.
Oh, one more thing: Can I have a receipt, please?
Brant Thomas
Cold Spring, N.Y.
To the Editor:
A Defense Department official stated last month in The Washington Post that it would be “‘virtually impossible’ for the Russians or anyone else to penetrate voting systems in the roughly 8,000 jurisdictions around the country.” And yet ransomware attacks are reportedly “clobbering” American networks and threatening our election security integrity.
People are already voting. The Senate failed repeatedly to vote on countless bills that would have provided adequate funding to local governments to secure their voter registration systems and election security infrastructure.
As it appears that the federal government has been unable to neutralize the ransomware attacks that appear likely on Nov. 3, it is time for our government to level with the American people. Public trust in the integrity of our election systems is crucial, but public trust in our government is essential.
Andrea Flink
Chatham, Mass.
The writer is a senior fellow at the Fordham Law School Center on Law and Information Policy.
To the Editor:
The solution to combating cyber-interference with our elections lies in returning to simpler, far less vulnerable election mechanics.